red eye lids in hare

Question
We have an 8 pound, 2 year old hare. She suddenly came up with pink eye lids surrounding her right eyeball. She was initially keeping it slightly closed, it had a clear watery discharge, its been 48 hours and it seems almost back to normal, a tiny bit of watering, and the eye is wide open. Can I help her at home as opposed to an expensive vet visit?

Answer
Dear Beth,

Sounds as if she suffered some sort of injury to her eyelid (maybe an insect bite or sting?) or perhaps got something in her eye.  If it is now back to normal, I would just observe it for another day and see if things clear up.  You may have dodged a bullet!

I live with ten hares (Black-tailed Jackrabbits) myself, and know how easily stressed they are.  So I agree that avoiding a vet visit is best, if humanly possible.  If you do have to bring her to the vet, ask the vet about getting a dose of Valium for her before the trip, just to reduce her stress.  We always do this if we ever have to bring a hare to the vet, and it has really worked wonders.

I hope you don't have to bring her to the vet, but if you do I sure hope you have a good *rabbit* vet, and not one who sees mainly dogs and cats.  You can find a vet who's experienced with rabbits here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

If the eye continues to water, or if she squints, then she may have a corneal injury that needs treatment.  This isn't hard to do, but you need a vet who knows the right medications.  We've (all too often) had to treat eye injuries in our fiesty hares, and have had wonderful resolution of corneal injuries with just antibiotic (gentocin) ophthalmic drops, EDTA (ethylenediamene tetraacetic acid), and a bit of miconazole cream (over the counter monistat) to prevent fungal infection.  Atropine can help control pain, even though lagomorphs have an enzyme that inactivates that drug relatively quickly.  But we've found that it does offer temporary relief, at least.

If it's just the eyelid, a warm, moist compress on the eye will help soothe any sting or swelling.  

I hope she's back to normal soon!  Have fun with your lovely, wonderful hare!  :)  I think they are the most beautiful animals in the world.

Dana